Uzbekistan is attempting to reform their government and its laws on individual freedoms. Under the new president the government has seemed to make huge leaps forward. However, recently eight facebook bloggers were detained after criticizing a new law that bans hijabs with school uniforms. I find it interesting because Uzbekistan is not a country that wants to reform because they… Read more »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s parliamentary speaker has called the president’s sacking of the prime minister to bring a former leader back to power a non-violent coup d’etat. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is a key figure in the political standoff that started on Oct. 26, when President Maithripala Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former president Mahinda… Read more »
TASHKENT (Reuters) – When Uzbek authorities detained several online activists in September, blogger Davronbek Tojialiyev packed some clothes in a bag and waited for the knock on his door. The police never came, and Tojialiyev, one of a handful of bloggers breaking taboos by criticizing state policies and officials, writes on. The 34-year-old’s experience suggests the new government in Tashkent… Read more »
MOSCOW, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Economies in Central Asia and the Caucasus will average growth of 4.2 percent annually in coming years, less than half the rate seen in the early 2000s, and need to redouble reform efforts, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. The IMF called on the former Soviet republics, in particular, to reduce the state’s role… Read more »
KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban militants attacked a border outpost in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 20 government soldiers in the latest assault likely to compound fears that the security forces are facing an unsustainable casualty toll. Sparsely populated Farah, on the border with Iran, has seen months of heavy fighting, with hundreds police and soldiers killed. The Taliban threatened to… Read more »
The United Kingdom’s plan for preservation of land in a region of Myanmar is not a good idea and is not a considerate idea. I feel as if the UK is only focusing on a singular issue and not considering the potential problems this extravagant plan could cause. These villagers in Myanmar live off of the land around them. They… Read more »
Until recently, Maniram Mandiwal felt like just another cog in the wheel. The headteacher of Rajasthan’s Shaheed Col Jayprakash Janu secondary school left work as soon as he could. He didn’t know any of his pupils by name, and took no interest in his staff. Mandiwal had spent a quarter of a century in teaching without ever experiencing a “special… Read more »
Prof Vinita Damodaran draws parallels between recent Sabarimala protests and similar movements against the entry of lower castes into temples in the 1920s The images of large crowds protesting against the entry of women and girls of a certain age into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala (Report, 18 October) reminded me of similar movements against the entry of lower castes into… Read more »
The prominent Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the “father of the Taliban”, has been killed in a knife attack at his home in Rawalpindi. Haq’s son, Hamidul Haq, said his father was alone in his bedroom when he was attacked by an assailant, who escaped undetected. “My father has been martyred. He was alone at his home. His… Read more »
India’s leading film festival struck several controversial films from its lineup to make room for female-directed features and address a mood of change. But will it halt harassment on set? Introducing the recent series opener of India’s top-rated talk show, Koffee With Karan, the director-producer-personality Karan Johar championed Bollywood’s new-found “girl power”: 12 months of successes – such as the… Read more »